The title and text are printed in red and black; text in double columns surrounded by the gloss of Joannes Andreae and others.this edition contains the “Tabula Lodouici Bolognini de Bononia”–and the “Margarita decretalium”–15 leaves at end.

This copy is bound in Early Vellum, loss to spine revealing 14th century French manuscript bnders waste. Boards largely detaching.

Interesting and heavy cross-outs (Censorship) with iron gall ink scribbling to portions of commentary (rather than excision) most likely a response to the changes made at the Council Of Trent..

Ius nouissimum.—The ius nouissimum begins with the Council of Trent (1545-63). Of the twenty-five sessions of the Council, thirteen made decrees affecting law. These decrees were to have force as soon as they were promulgated. This was done by the bull Benedictus Deus of Pius v. in 1564. The pope fixed 1st May of that year as the date from which the decrees should be in force. The question occurs whether it be possible lawfully for a custom to abrogate any Tridentine decree. The possibility of this has often been denied, so that there is an axiom often quoted: ‘Contra concilium Tridentinum non ualet consuetudo.’ This axiom has no authority behind it. It is true that the Council of Trent has the gravest authority; but there is no reason to suppose an exception to the common principle about consuetudo in this case either. In fact, a number of customs have arisen against its decrees in various parts of the Church, which, supposing the usual conditions, are admitted as lawful. In order that there might be a permanent body capable of giving authentic interpretations of the Tridentine decrees, Pius rv. founded the ‘Congregatio concilii Tridentini interpres’ (commonly called the ‘Sacra congregatio concilii,’ ‘S.C.C). This congregation still exists; it has acquired extended functions regarding other matters also.

During the fourth session (1546) of the Council of Trent the assembled Fathers, discussing the canon of Holy Scripture, insisted expressly on the censorship of books, such as had been universally proscribed by the Lateran Council, and on the sanctions therein decreed, especially in regard to books and writings treating of religious things, or in their words, de rebus sacris. For members of religious orders wishing to publish works of this sort, examination and approbation of their writings on the part of their superiors was prescribed, in addition to the approbation of the ordinary. Towards the end of the council the reorganization of the censorship and prohibition of books was more particularly debated. The result was the so-called “Index Tridentinus,” which, however, was not published until 1564, by order of the council, along with the brief of Pius IV; wherefore it is also called “Index of Pius IV.” Besides a revised catalogue of forbidden books, this index contained, as a most important modification, ten general rules composed by the council, since known as the “Tridentine Rules.”

Of these ten rules it is probably the fourth which applies to the 1559 Decretals here.

Fourth, preventive censorship and approbation, as prescribed by the Bull of Leo X (1515), are insisted on. The punishment of excommunication is extended also to the author who has his book printed without the necessary approbation. A copy of the examined and approved manuscript is to remain with the censor. Moreover, printers and booksellers are forbidden both to offer for sale prohibited books and to sell conditionally interdicted works to anyone not producing a permit; they are ordered to keep ready an exact list of all writings they have in stock. At the same time bishops and inquisitors are urged to supervise printing and book-shops and to have them inspected.

Finally, the rules inflict the punishment of excommunication on such as read and possess forbidden heretical works, or those suspected of heresy. Any person reading or keeping a book prohibited for other reasons commits a grievous sin and is to be punished according to the bishop’s discretion. The ten rules remained in force until Leo XIV abrogated them by the Constitution “Officiorum ac Munerum” (25 Jan., 1897) and replaced them by new general decrees.

“The Decretals of Gregory IX also collectively called the Liber extra, are an important source of medieval Canon Law. In 1230, Pope Gregory IX ordered his chaplain and confessor, St. Raymond of Peñaforte a Dominican, to form a new canonical collection destined to replace all former collections. It has been said that the pope by this measure wished especially to emphasize his power over the Universal Church.”

The Decretals of Gregory IX, promulgated in 1234, was the first collection of canon law for the Catholic Church invested with universal and exclusive authority, and was the culmination of a century and a half process by which the a now papal-led Church came to be the leading institution within medieval European society. The Decretals, also known as the Liber extra – a compilation of 1971 papal letters, constitutions and conciliar canons drawn principally from the century prior to its issuance – has long been understood as a key text for the study of the medieval papacy, the rise of scholasticism within the universities, and the extension of the Church’s jurisdiction into almost every area of medieval life. The degree to which the man commissioned to edit the collection, the Dominican Raymond of Penyafort (1175-1275), actively shaped the legal content of the Decretals through eliminating, rewording, or supplementing the individual texts has remained elusive, in part because of the complicated manuscript tradition and in part because of our ignorance of all his sources.

The Gloss on title 9 of the fifth book of the Decretals of Gregory IX mentions two other kinds of apostasy: apostasy inobedientiæ, disobedience to a command given by lawful authority, and iteratio baptismatis, the repetition of baptism, “quoniam reiterantes baptismum videntur apostatare dum recedunt a priori baptismate”. As all sin involves disobedience, the apostasy inobedientiæ does not constitute a specific offense. In the case of iteratio baptismatis, the offence falls rather under the head of heresy and irregularity than of apostasy; if the latter name has sometimes been given to it, it is due to the fact that the Decretals of Gregory IX combine into one title, under the rubric “De apostatis et reiterantibus baptisma” (V, title 9) the two distinct titles of the Justinian Code: “Ne sanctum baptisma iteretur” and “De apostatis” (I, titles 6, 7), in Corpus juris civilis ed. Krueger, (Berlin, 1888); II 60-61. See München “Das kanonische Gerichtsverfahren und Strafrecht” (Cologne, 1874), II, 362, 363. Apostasy, in its strictest sense, means apostasy a Fide (St. Thomas, Summa theologica, II-II, Q. xii a. 1).